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Johnson gets call to start Saturday vs. Blue Jays

Johnson gets call to start Saturday vs. Blue Jays

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BALTIMORE -- As expected, the Orioles will tab rookie Steve Johnson to make Saturday's start against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Johnson last pitched in relief on Wednesday night, tossing an inning in the Orioles' loss in Texas, allowing a run on two hits. The 24-year-old right-hander is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA in four games, including a victory in the first start of his Major League career on Aug. 8.

"We felt all along that's what we hoped to do," manager Buck Showalter said of giving Johnson another start. "When we made the evaluation with [Wei-Yin] Chen and Miguel [Gonzalez], we need to give them a little extra time. As long as we didn't have some emergency where Steve had to pitch really extended there in Texas, it actually worked out perfect. The inning he threw, couldn't have hoped for a better situation for him to get some work in.

"As well as he pitched last time [he started], I didn't want him to get too far away from it. Hopefully, he can continue the good contribution he made to us last time."

Johnson tossed six innings in his only other career start, holding Seattle to two runs on five hits and a pair of walks. He also struck out nine.

With Chen and Gonzalez each getting an extra two days of rest, starting Monday and Tuesday respectively, the Orioles' rotation is undecided for Wednesday and Thursday.

"It's going to be that way," Showalter said of filling out the rotation as they go along. "We've got different options that can fall on different days. I got a sneaking suspicion the way we will go, but a lot of it is going to be determined over the next five days."